


Pulled in Two Directions

by Thirdly



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 14:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9328412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thirdly/pseuds/Thirdly
Summary: Alternate Universe-ish with, with dragons and a few dollops of the backdrop/events of the original series sprinkled with whimsy. AU, M/M, M/s, Yuri/Wolfram and other pairings.





	1. The Portal

Title: Pulled in Two Directions

Author: Dragon Dung (Thirdly)

Dedicated to: Rabbid Rabbit

Pairings: W/Y, G/G...more to come

Warnings: Alternate Universe, M/M, general OOC, a few OC's (Demon King Razden, Varyx, the Kazieks), _slight_ non-consensual moments.

This is a strange, slightly humorous, story interlaced with romance, drama, and dimension jumping.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou or any of its characters, this is purely fanmade and I do not make any money from these writings.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chapter 1:  **The Portal**

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

_Every story has two sides. The true facts tend to lie somewhere in between._

**~~~~~~Hev Dilou lu Drow Neztirix (translation: The World of Wild Magic)~~~~~~**

Dark darkness. Darker, darkest...faded and unfocused in the atmosphere.

On a throne made of black stone rested a figure that almost seemed to be carved out of marble himself. Large, but almost delicate fingers with sharp black nails held up a face that, though sharp at angles, was nearly flawless. Alabaster skin that seemed to glow in the surrounding darkness enhanced two eerie eyes with cat-like pupils...one blood red and the other a golden yellow. Such was the visage of the Demon King...a leader whose thigh-length black hair and rippling muscles made those of any orientation in their world swoon. Perhaps it was the way he seemed to tower over most men? Perhaps it was the fact that he barely wore anything at all. Regardless, when the man stood up and walked forward, even the particles of air seemed to part before him. The black satin blanket tied around the king's waist trailed behind him as he made his way to a woman who was reluctant to activate several symbols around a long mirror.

The Demon King's servant followed beside him before sitting down nearby. He was a man with black hair and dark blue eyes. His hair barely reached below his shoulders tied back, and his eyes held a strange gleam. He wore a sleeveless black shirt decorated with silver/green dragon scales and black pants made of dragon hide. His name was Raven and he looked at the mirror in mild curiosity while his master absentmindedly ran a hand over his head as one would treat a pet.

"Well, it's done," the woman next to the mirror announced softly. Her fingers hovered over her long, red hair in nervousness. Anissina had hoped that, by the time the mirror was completed, the Demon King would realize that it shouldn't be done. She hoped that he would  _not_  jeopardize their world for some kind of thirst for power, but any complaints she made were all in vain.

The Demon King was, what could only be described as, tickled. His eyes even glowed as a sign that he was rather excited. "Show me the neighboring world," the words were hissed onto the mirror in a Serpentine Dragon language.

Raven almost shivered under his master's intensity until his attention was veered to the mirror. No, it was no longer a mirror, but a portal fashioned of swirls of darkness and light. In the swirls of the portal was a reflection of another dimension...the ' _neighboring world_.'

A man from the neighboring world appeared in the reflection. His eyes were as blue as the sky and his hair was mahogany brown. He appeared to be talking to a young man with wild black hair and matching black eyes.

"Who is he?" the Demon King asked in wonder while motioning towards the blue-eyed man. Something about the awe in his tone made Raven a bit jealous.

"He must be the representative of their world," Anissina provided, revealing nothing. She frowned when she saw the evil smirk play across the Demon King's face. He was up to something.

" _Bring_  him to me," the Demon King ordered. After a moment, he added. "Boy and all..."

**~~~~~Earth~~~~~**

Conrad was giving his Japanese godson a tour of America. The boy was almost eighteen and he had wanted to meet a pen pal overseas...a so-called Ken. Conrad was never more thrilled to spend more time with his godson. However, he was worried about the dangers that he knew existed. He was a security guard, at least in this world, and he had a strange feeling in his gut that something new was coming. He wasn't sure what was approaching, but he knew that it was something big.

"So, that's the empire state building?" his godson asked. What a sight he was, wearing a black sweater with pockets and khakis with three times as many pockets. In Conrad's eyes, his godson had grown so fast in so little a time. He remembered when he was small enough to hurl into the air. Now, young Yuri was turning heads.

"Right," he replied. "Tomorrow, we'll be on our way to the lower east coast, so, you might as well take a good look at it while you can."

"Conrad," Yuri began. "Do you think it will be like old times when we see Ken again? It's been so long..."

"I'm sure everything will come back once you two start talking again," Conrad explained. "Even if you both don't remember, new memories will take their place." That drew a smile from his godson and, for a moment, Conrad caught a glimpse of what he missed out on when he decided not to settle down with a partner and start a family of his own.

"We have a few more stops before then!" Yuri exclaimed before rushing forward, dragging his uncle by a sleeve. Ah, but at the time, Yuri was all the family that Conrad ever needed.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~Drow Neztirix~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"Raven..."

Raven recognized his master's whisper in an instant. By the way that his name was spoken, he knew that his master...needed something. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of finishing off a project. He ignored the summons for as long as he could, writing out a few more sentences onto a sheet of paper on his desk.

" _Raven..._ "

A low growl escaped Raven's lips when he nearly knocked everything over with a start. The Demon King had materialized behind him and was running a hand up and down Raven's thigh. Raven forgot his anger at being interrupted for a moment when it came back, full force. "Master," He said in a low voice while turning around to face him. "You promised that you would let me do my work. It was part of our agreement."

"I know," The Demon King hissed, his nails scratching a path up the back of Raven's thighs. "But, I want you  _now_..." The last word was emphasized with a blatant squeeze of Raven's buttocks. "Don't defy me." Without another word, The Demon King slid everything off the table. The objects floated and hovered around them as he shoved Raven down onto the, now vacant, table. "Did you think I would make a mess of your research?" He teased as his tongue licked a path down the back of Raven's ear to the collarbone.

"M-master," Raven's breath came in gaps as he struggled through his arousal. The king didn't make it easy for him to speak. "What do you find..." His breath hitched when the hands slid around and up his inner thighs. "So fascinating about that..." Another hitch when a hand slid down to cup his clothed member. "O-o-other-worldian?"

"I myself do not know." The answer came in hissed whisper.

 


	2. The Incense Blower

 

_The consequences of one's actions are akin to a drop of water forming a myriad of ripples in its wake._

* * *

**~~~~~~~~~~~~Drow Neztirix~~~~~~~~~~~~**

* * *

No mansion, houses, or living quarters of the like could ever compare to the size of the Demon King's castle. The structure was twice an average city's size and could even be seen from any corner of their country. Massive towers, labyrinth-like halls, and equally complex courtyards added to the vastly unnecessary architecture of the place.

Within one of the aforementioned courtyards, two blonde boys conversed. One was nearly hidden within a cloak and the other was overly noticeable, even while wearing normal clothes. The boy wearing the cloak was seated atop a sea-green dragon with a dark green underbelly and whiskers. The boy on the ground wore a dull green shirt and gray pants, but had the face of an angel.

"Oh come on, Wolfram!" The cloaked boy on the dragon whined as his freckled nose twitched. "This one's really tame!" He lived in a farm that raised dragons not too far away from the castle. He rode three or four different dragons a day, not unlike humans walking their pets. Though he and Wolfram had played since they were kids, he never managed to convince him to ride the tiniest of dragons. Rick was beginning to worry if his friend had a phobia that he wasn't aware of.

"No," Was Wolfram's solid answer. The lighter blonde brushed away the dust from the sleeves and pants that were blown upon him during the dragon's landing. After a moment, he turned away from his friend in disgust. "I don't believe in enslaving superior beings."

"It's only one ride!" The wheat-blonde boy persisted. "Since when has riding dragons become some form of enslavement? The dragon beneath him pawed at the ground, becoming impatient with his rider.

"One should never ride another being without permission," Wolfram stated while looking into the dragon's yellow eyes with sincerity. "Besides, shouldn't you be flying two other dragons before dusk, Rick?"

"What the hell ever, they're nothing but mindless animals." Rick muttered under his breath. He had never  _asked_  to work at the dragon stables or take care of the nobles' dragons. Wolfram, who had taken a few paces away, was a bit too far to hear him. However, the dragon heard what Rick said and promptly knocked him off his back.

" _Ack_!" Rick exclaimed, hitting the ground.

With a smirk on its face, the dragon nodded a good bye towards Wolfram before he walked away, leaving Rick rubbing his backside in pain. The dragon waited patiently for his rider to remount before getting ready to depart.

:::::::::::::::::::

Wolfram made his way down a few hallways after he left the courtyard, and was about to turn a corner, when he froze at the sound of voices. Instinctively, he flattened himself against the wall, torn between his curiosity and the desire to sneak away.

"And he ordered it all on a whim? Just like that? Without thinking of the consequences?"

"The king is rash at times, but I think this is goes a bit deeper than that..."

Wolfram recognized the voices of Günter and Gwendal immediately.  _'Just what are they talking about?'_  He thought to himself.

"And sending Jozak, of all people!" Günter huffed.

"I believe that is the  _least_ of our worries right now," Gwendal snapped. Jozak was one of his trusted spies. He couldn't help but feel as if Günter's comment was an indirect hit at him.

"Well, I am going to see if I can get better details from Anissina!" Günter declared with dramatic flair before marching off into the direction of Anissina's lab.

When Günter was well out of earshot, Gwendal let out a sigh. He knew well enough to sense whenever his brother's presence was nearby. "Asking is an easier alternative to  _eavesdropping_."

Wolfram winced inwardly. Ok, so he was caught. His desire to find out what was going on outweighed his embarrassment. "Well, then...I'm  _asking_."

* * *

**~~~~~~Earth~~~~~~**

* * *

"Of all the places to hang out, why the mall?" An unenthusiastic Yuri asked his childhood friend.

"Who doesn't hang out at the mall every once in a while?" Ken countered. "The merchandise, the electronics, the entertainment..."

"The loud children," Yuri complained as a boy and a girl stepped on his foot while playing and yelling. "Ouch!"

"You forget we were once wild kids, too," Ken countered with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but still! We weren't  _that_  bad," Yuri replied. "At least, I don't  _remember_ us being that bad."

"According to our mothers, we were," Ken supplied. His line of vision was drawn to one of the kiosks in the middle of the mall. "Hey, look! Incense blowers..."

Yuri followed Ken's gaze. The kiosk held all kinds of incense blowers, most of them had a fantasy theme. Yuri allowed himself to get distracted from the bustle of the mall enough to study the details of an incense blower in the shape of a turquoise dragon. The detail on the scales and the wings made it look rather realistic for an incense blower. He took a closer look and his eyes widened when the dragon actually blinked. "What the hell?" He gasped, feeling a little pale.

"Huh?" Ken sent a questioning glance at Yuri. He had been in an ongoing conversation with the owner of the booth and they were both startled when Yuri suddenly cried out. "Yuri? What is it?"

"You're  _not_  going to believe me, but I swear that the dragon  _blinked_!" Yuri whimpered in one breath while pointing shakily at the turquoise dragon.

The owner of the booth and Ken both looked at the dragon that Yuri pointed out in mild curiosity. "Yes, the details are very good on this one Yuri, I can see why it left such an impression on you."

 _'I knew it_ ,' Yuri thought. ' _He doesn't believe me at all!_ '

"We'll buy it," Ken decided, giving Yuri a shock as he handed the money to the owner. "No, we won't need a box or a bag, just the receipt will do."

The two boys left the booth with the dragon in hand and quietly took a seat on a bench in one of the corners of the mall. Yuri chose to break the silence. "So, why did you buy it?"

"If I remember correctly, you never were one to lie," Ken began before holding up the dragon to inspect it. He didn't doubt that Yuri saw something in the incense blower, but he did pay a lot of money for it. "So, I knew that you were either telling the truth or that the incense seeped through your brain and you were starting to see things..."

"Gee, thanks," Yuri mumbled sarcastically. "But, I think I'd know if, all of a sudden, I started seeing things-" Yuri's voice trailed off when the dragon took that very moment to shake a bit in Ken's hands and, then, it defecated right on the teenager's pants. "Ha! Told you! Talk about gross."

* * *

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~Drow Neztirix~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

* * *

"Tell me you're _joking_!" Wolfram shrieked, an incredulous expression on his face, and his very hands trembling. He looked at his older brother's face with a pleading glance, but Gwendal only shut his eyes and shook his head.

"He-he can't  _do_  that!" Wolfram pressed on. "I-I won't go through with it! I can't!"

"Those were his direct orders," Gwendal re-affirmed with something akin to pity in his voice. "As a peace offering to the neighboring world, you are to be given as a  _gift_  to their representative."


	3. The Fall

 

_The light and dark are both sides of a similar essence. Light cannot exist without dark and dark cannot exist without light. They are a part of life, a part of creation, and a part of damnation..._

* * *

**~~~~~Earth~~~~~**

* * *

What an utterly twisted day it had been. Yuri, Ken, and the would-be-incense-blower managed to eat at the food court of the mall without drawing too much attention to themselves. Some people passed by them, commenting on how the turquoise and purple designs made the dragon seem rather exquisite. Only through sheer luck had none of the passersby seen the tiny animal devouring several of Ken's fries, which had been dipped in ketchup and rolled in pepper. The trio's luck ran out the moment they returned to the main area of the mall. They were stopped immediately by a deaf friend of Ken's who had caught the dragon moving from afar. Soon, several deaf teenagers crowded around them, intrigued by such a realistic 'electronic toy.'

When they finally left the group of teens, it was already nine o'clock at night. As they left the entrance of the mall, Ken and Yuri found Conrad in the middle of the parking lot, much to their surprise. Both boys began talking at once about their discovery of the supposed incense blower and Conrad tried to calm them down enough to make sense of what they were saying.

"A  _dragon_?" Conrad questioned with a serious expression on his face. "Show me."

Ken hesitantly handed Conrad the incense blower usurper and watched as Conrad's eyes widened slightly before the older man began inspecting the dragon. He nearly dropped the dragon as laughter poured out of him. "I cannot believe it!"

Yuri had expected to see his godfather shake his head in disbelief or to hold the dragon upside down and shake it or something, like any other person would. Conrad's laughter threw him off completely and Yuri, once more, felt lost. Just what was going on?

"Jozak, I can feel your presence somewhere, is it really you? Is this your dragon?" Conrad asked in between fits of laughter.

"Give them an inch and they'll walk all over you, I swear," A voice spoke. The voice appeared to be coming from the dragon, but Yuri refused to believe what he was hearing...at least, until one of the dragon's scales chipped off from its tail with a waning orange light. The light dissipated moments later and man stood in its place.

"There are other ways to cross worlds other than the use of dragons," Conrad pointed out as his laughter died down to a soft chuckle. A part of him couldn't be more pleased to see and hear Jozak again. Another part of him worried about what it meant for his most trusted friend to come so far. "But, seriously, what brings you to Earth?" His eyes moved from Jozak to the dragon that was now on his shoulder.

Ken was in a state of shock during all of this, his mouth hanging a bit open. However, Yuri took a moment to snap out of it and tried to figure out what was going on. "You  _know_  this guy? What the hell just happened? And just what do you mean by 'what brings you to _Earth_!'"

"Calm down, kid," Urged Jozak. "I've been sent on a mission to retrieve Conrad and the boy-" Jozak trailed off when he realized that there were two boys before him. "But, since he didn't  _specify_  which boy, I guess I'll take all three of you with me."

"All  _three_ of us?" Ken asked, finally snapping out of his stupor. "Where are you taking us!  _Conrad?_ "

With a hushing motion, Conrad spoke to them all. "First, I say that we go to an in-between niche, and only  _then_  should we figure out what all of this is about."

"Agreed," Jozak emphasized with a nod. He tapped the top of the dragon's head. "What do you say, Varyx?"

The dragon nodded once before lifting his head high, opening his mouth wide and spreading his wings to their full length. Streams of blue light shot out of its muzzle and swirled around the group, transporting them to an in-between location. They were suddenly in another dimension made up of white and dark blue clouds. The group ended up sprawled on a huge cloud, half dizzy from the travel.

"Anyone have aspirin?" Yuri mumbled while holding his head. "Tell me this is a dream...that's all I could ever hope for."

"You're  _not_ dreaming," Ken muttered from Yuri's left. He was rubbing his wrist and one of his eyes twitched a bit. "The dragon  _bit_  me and I feel the pain, so I'm not dreaming, either."

Yuri looked over to see the dragon sitting upon Ken's lap, looking as innocent as ever. "Right..." He looked around and saw that both Conrad and Jozak were talking without them again. He caught Conrad's attention as his godfather made his way over to him.  _"Well?"_

"I don't have much time to explain," Conrad began. "But, what I  _can_  tell you is that we are going to another world. The world where your father was originally from. That's right, only your mother is really Earth-born. There's more at stake here than..." The older man looked at the ground as if to gather himself for a moment. "I'll have to tell you everything another day, but we have to go talk to the leader of this other world right now."

"Right  _now_?" Yuri whined. His head was spinning, he hardly had time to soak up what his godfather was telling him. In fact, he was doing his best not to think about it at all and now they had to travel again? What a whirlwind of a night!

* * *

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~Drow Neztirix~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

* * *

"Wake up," Ken urged as he shook his friend's shoulder. "Come on, wake up!" When all his efforts proved fruitless, he looked at the dragon on his shoulder and gave him a pleading glance.

The dragon nodded and hopped down to where Yuri was on the stone floor. Inwardly smirking, Varyx reached down to sink his teeth into Yuri's hand, as if it were the roast leg of a lamb.

" _OW! Son of a-_!" Yuri jumped, hitting his head on the ceiling and in double pain. He saw spots before his eyes and felt as if his head was spinning for a moment. "What?" He groaned as he rubbed the smarting bump on his head. When his eyes refocused, he saw Ken and visibly relaxed. "Where are we now?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we're in this dragon's cave," Ken explained while petting the dragon's head absentmindedly.

"Dragon?" Yuri's eyes refocused and he nearly jumped again, his heart kicking into overdrive as he panicked. "You mean that thing is real? It wasn't a dream?"

"I'm afraid it wasn't," Ken sighed. "Jozak and Conrad are talking with the king and are trying to find out why we're here."

"King?  _What_  king?" Yuri asked, wondering if he'd ever truly understand what was happening.

"The king of this world," Ken answered before pointing to the entrance of the cave. "The scenery's amazing. Go look for yourself."

Yuri reluctantly crawled over to the entrance of the cave and his mouth fell open. They were high enough to see everything. The mountains were violet in the distance, the trees were burgundy with light blue and aquamarine leaves. The grass was the deepest green he had ever seen. In fact, Yuri was so stunned that he didn't pay attention to what he was doing. Another forward movement in order to get a better look at the scenery resulted in tumbling out of the cave.

"Yuri!" Ken cried frantically, peering down from the entrance of the cave to see if he could find his friend.

Yuri was hanging by the edge of the rock beneath the cave, several feet from the trail below, but still trying to climb back up. "Why does this always happen to me?"

:::::::::::::::::::

Unbeknownst to the boys, on the trail below, walked a group of men who were hunting for the entrance of a certain cave.

"And you are  _certain_ that this was the area?" Günter complained more than asked, tired of walking around for so long on foot.

"Yeah," Rick answered. "It's gotta be here somewhere. I know what I'm talking about."

"Let's hurry up and find it," Wolfram muttered unenthusiastically. He trailed behind the other two, letting them walk ahead of him and following without much energy. "The sooner we find them, the faster we can get on with our lives." Not that there was much for him to look forward to now that his body had been signed away to some foreigner to use for his pleasure. Wolfram felt a shudder in his stomach just thinking about it.

:::::::::::::::::::

High above them, Ken was panicking in the cave. The dragon was calmly drawing power from the atmosphere in order to slow down the force of gravity that was pulling Yuri down. They were both waiting for Yuri to slip. And Yuri was indeed slipping, his hands losing their grip. In mere seconds, Yuri found himself falling down, as if in slow motion, towards the ground and the people below. Just when he thought he was home free, the magic surrounding him slipped away and he continued his descent rapidly with a muffled crash onto the blonde boy below.

For a moment, the two boys stared at each other. Flat on his back, and with his hips straddled, Wolfram looked up into eyes darker than ebony. Yuri, on the other hand, could do nothing but stare at the most beautiful boy he had ever seen. A streak of pink adorned both their noses. However, the moment was short-lived.

"Get  _off_  of me!" Wolfram ordered, pushing and kicking Yuri aside in a desperate effort to not squirm out from under him.

" _Ow_!" Yuri exclaimed. "No need to get so violent! It's not like I  _wanted_  to fall on you!"

"Like I'd-" Wolfram's words stopped short when he noticed what Yuri was wearing. "You're one of those men from the neighboring world! Where is the other one?"

"Huh?" Yuri wondered before pointing to the cave above. "Oh, you mean Ken? He's up there along with the incense blower usurper."

"The  _what_?" Wolfram asked.

"Nevermind," Yuri sighed. "It's a long story. I'm guessing Conrad sent you to get us?"

"Come along," was the clipped, grumbled response.


	4. The True Demon King

 

Swish, swish, swish. The cold floor slid beneath a black adder that was moving along one of the corridors of the Demon castle. As its tongue sensed the ground before him, the adder made its way to the baths of the Demon King. Slitted blue eyes looked up as they approached a pale, wet foot. The serpentine gaze traveled up the leg attached to the foot, up the muscular torso, and paused on the tilted head of his master. The snake lifted itself upon the demon's leg and coiled around his body, carefully sliding around his neck to make a u-turn and swiveled around his arm.

The demon king had his eyes closed, allowing thousands of water droplets to soothe him. The water dripped around him, adding a light weight onto his long, black hair. He felt the presence of his servant and waited until the black adder curled around his arm. His moment of peace temporarily interrupted, the demon opened his red and yellow eyes and sent the snake a 'what is it now' glance. The snake stared back, unblinking, before sending the king a few thoughts telepathically.

 _'They've all been found, master,'_  The adder explained.  _'They are all waiting for you in the throne room.'_

 _'Are they?'_  The king replied mentally, instantly thrilled.  _'We shouldn't keep them waiting...'_  He held the snake in place the moment it began to descend.  _'Wait, Raven. I said that we_ shouldn't _keep them waiting. However, they can stand to wait several minutes longer.'_  He was the king, after all, the demon thought as he scratched beneath the adder's head, giving it a sultry gaze behind his glowing eyes.

:::::::::::::::::::

Jozak, Conrad, Günter, Rick, Yuri, and Wolfram were all seated upon large red pillows in the middle of the throne room. They were all waiting for the Demon King to appear. The tension in the room was almost unbearable. The only ones that seemed to be immune to the tense atmosphere were Ken and Varyx. The odd pair shared a large violet pillow, unlike the others, with the dragon resting on Ken's lap. No one said a word or chanced a glance at one another. All except for Günter, who seemed to have taken a liking to Yuri ever since they found him beneath the cave. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the youth.

Yuri had so many questions swirling around in his head. He couldn't figure out which ones he wanted to ask first. Why were they there? That was an important one. Just how much did Conrad know about this place and since when did he know Jozak? That was another mystery. Why the hell was Ken so calm about all this? The questions seemed to swell and Yuri found, to his amazement, that he was beginning to feel a pulsing headache coming on. The headache continued to intensify to the point that, when the Demon King finally appeared, Yuri felt as if he could faint.

Little did Yuri know that Wolfram had similar questions running through his mind, as well. However, Wolfram's quivering stomach was justified. He wondered who the strangers were, why they were there, and where they came from. He wondered about the sanity of their Demon King being intact. Most importantly, he wondered just which one of the strangers he was supposed to be given to as a, he gulped lightly, gift...and for what purpose. When the king and his servant showed up, Wolfram had a slight idea as to why he was being given away as a gift, if Raven's slightly tussled appearance were any clue. He felt sick to his stomach. May his Demon ancestors and the deities save him.

Ken, on the other hand, wasn't confused at all. All the series of events that occurred, and all that he observed in the beginning of their journey, were but puzzle pieces that he slid to the back of his mind for future reference. With patience, the entire truth would be uncovered and things would turn out how they were meant to be. At least, as soon as he gathered enough information. The young man looked down at the dragon that he was petting. Little Varyx could be absolutely  _full_  of information. _'If only dragons could talk,'_  He thought.

The dragon lifted his head to stare directly into Ken's eyes. _'We can't talk like humans do, but we have our own form of communication,'_ He commented with, what appeared to be, a dragon's smirk.

That was quite a surprise for Ken.  _'You can communicate telepathically? Why didn't you mention it before?'_

 _'I only converse with people I trust,_ ' Was the dragon's reply.

"Welcome," The Demon King began as soon as he sat down. He wore a long-sleeved, tight black shirt and equally as tight black pants. "I am King Razden. And I have invited you to our world in the hopes that you may help us find a relic..."

 _Invited?_ Maybe it was just Yuri, but none of that 'dimension hopping' and 'dragon sending' seemed like an invitation to him. He was dragged there against his will, surely!

"The relic that holds our world together is shattering. Without a replacement relic, our world will cease to exist..."

"What caused the relic to shatter, if I may ask?" Asked Ken with an unreadable look on his face. A relic was usually the remains or memento of figures of historical importance back on Earth. Did a relic hold the same meaning in this one? How could such a thing possibly hold an entire world together?

"That is something we ourselves do not know," The Demon King replied. "With the help of your world's representative, we could find that out along with a replacement relic to help save our world."

"Our world's representative?" This time, it was Yuri who asked the question.

"Anissina's mirror gave us a clue as to who it is," King Razden replied with a pointed glance at Conrad.

Conrad smiled at this. "I am afraid that your mirror is wrong. I am not Earth's representative. That title belongs to Yuri."

"What?  _Me_?" Asked an incredulous Yuri. As if the teenager weren't uncomfortable enough with so many strange people in the same room. Now, everyone was staring at him. It was all too much for him. A moment later, Yuri slumped onto his pillow, unconscious.

:::::::::::::::::::

"Let  _go_  of me!" Yelled a fuming Wolfram as he was shoved into the representative's room and locked in from the outside. "This is ridiculous! LET ME OUT!"

After a few attempts of trying to wrench the door open by tugging at the handle and pushing against the wall with his feet, Wolfram took a few shaky steps back and plopped onto a chair. Everything that happened felt like a whirlwind in his head. He propped his elbows on his knees and lowered his head. His hands tugged at his hair in frustration. With a deep breath, he recalled the events one by one.

He had been seated with the other-worldians, waiting for their king's verdict. The blond had been distracted about his position and wondered who the real representative was. What he should have been doing instead was to think of a way to get out of being given away like a breeding mare! He was steeling himself for a protest when the true representative was revealed to be  _that_  boy! He could  _not_  believe that the very oaf that had fallen on him earlier that day was the real representative. He had a feeling that his nightmare had just begun from the moment that the fool collapsed.

Wolfram's dreamy expression cleared a bit as he focused on staring at the designs of the tiled floor, fighting the urge to look anywhere else. His train of thought picked up where he left off. The young representative had blacked-out and his companions had rushed over to him. The blonde would never forget the pleased look that came across King Razden's face as he suggested that the representative retire to a chamber of his own. And what had become of Wolfram? The moment that the nurse declared the representative to be well, he was shoved into the room, and thus, he was trapped.

Growing restless, he got to his feet and approached the immense bed on which rested the bane of his existence, and his worst horror, the other-worldian representative. He was the being to which the very king of his country had given him away to. Anger rose in him as he thought, ' _How could the king do this to me!? Of all the other-worldians, I'm surely stuck with the worst.'_

Without realizing it, Wolfram found himself crouching near Yuri's face. He was amazed that such an usually expressive face could look so normal when asleep. As a matter of fact, he didn't appear as much of an idiot when asleep, either. Then, why did he have such an urge to punch him in the face when he was awake? Sure, he was a loud and annoying clutz...but, why did he make him so angry?

The blonde tensed when Yuri's breathing changed slightly. Making sure that he was still asleep, he turned around and walked over to the cabinet. Just as he thought, most of his belongings were already hung up and folded in the drawers. Brilliant. With a sigh, he began to undress. Yuri won this battle, but the war was far from over.

:::::::::::::::::::

Yuri woke up in the middle of the night feeling an intense shot of pain in his stomach. His mind didn't register the fact that he was in a luxurious bed, nor that he was sharing it with another, or that he was currently wearing the strangest pair of blue-striped pajamas. No. The pain in his stomach was so strong that he was rendered half blind as tears blurred his vision. He stumbled off the bed and towards the balcony. The young man turned the handle and cursed when he found that it was locked. With a low growl, he turned the handle again and both of the balcony doors flew open, allowing a strong gust of icy wind to blow around him and into the room.

Behind Yuri, a sleeping Wolfram curled up in bed. The chill from the wind caused his eyes to blink open. A bit disoriented, and forgetting where he was, Wolfram shot up and looked around wildly. His eyes landed on the man near the balcony. The blonde's eyes narrowed in an attempt to adjust to the dark.

The man at the balcony sensed his movement and turned slightly. He gave Wolfram a piercing gaze, his eyes glowing a silvery blue.

Wolfram stared in shock as the wind continued to swirl around the balcony. He became mesmerized by the man's gaze and the slightly longer hair whipping around him.

 **"I am the Maoh,"**  Yuri stated in a deeper voice than usual.  **"The true Demon King."**

Wolfram inched back across the bed as the 'Maoh' approached him. He stared into those strange glowing eyes and began to feel dizzy. An instant later, the blonde fainted.

The Maoh reached out to hold the limp man up with his arm, the palm of his other hand glowed with the same silvery blue hue as his eyes. With this hand, he touched Wolfram's forehead. A gold mark blazed there and faded away as quickly as it had appeared.

 **"So, _that's_ who you are,"** He murmured, amused. **"I thank you."**

:::::::::::::::::::

Yuri awoke to a most peculiar sound coming from outside. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, trying to recognize that that strange sound was. Could it be...a goose honking? Curious, he leapt out of bed and peered out the balcony to see if he could identify the source of the noise. On a tree branch nearby, a familiar creature was perched. _'So, it's only Varyx...'_

Accustomed to doing chores, Yuri dragged himself back over to fix the bed. That was when he found a strange lump protruding from the sheets. Feeling a chill going down his spine at just about every unknown aspect of that world, he clenched his teeth and pulled the comforter down. He was treated to the sight of a half-asleep Wolfram wearing a long, white nightgown with ruffles at the end and laced up with a blue string.

" _What. The. **Hell**_?" Yuri drawled. Had he been sleeping next to this curled up, ruffled ball of doom all night? "Just who are you and what do you think you're doing in my bed-?" He trailed off as he thought of an even scarier thought. Could it be that  _he was_  the one in the _blonde's_  room, sleeping on the stranger's bed? The hair on the back of Yuri's neck stood on end as Wolfram stirred from his slumber. He had a feeling that he shouldn't stick around to find out. With a mad dash, Yuri sped from the room, still in his pajamas. He didn't care  _where_ he was going as long as it was away from  _that_  sleeping beauty!


	5. The Orb

 

Yuri stopped his mad dash to catch his breath. By then, he was entirely lost. He glanced toward the right side of the hallway that he was leaning against, and then he glanced towards the left side of the hallway. They both looked exactly the same. After cursing the cosmos, Yuri prepared to wander even further into the unknown. He had only taken a few steps when a door opened behind him. But, was that door even there before?

The youth peered at the door, trying desperately to calm down enough for the knot in his throat to go down. Had he known that a lilac puffball was going to emerge, he wouldn't have worried as much. Well, it wasn't exactly a lilac puffball, but it surely represented a puffball in Yuri's mind. The man called Günter was the one who emerged. The other man wore a lilac nightgown with a matching nightcap and was rubbing one of his eyes sleepily. Yuri thought up a storm and tried to secure emergency escape paths, but it was too late.

" _Mr. Representative?_ " Günter thought that he was still dreaming. Was the other-worldian really standing before him or was he still in dreamland? No, it certainly couldn't be his dream, since the other-worldian had a different...attire in his dream. This one must be the real thing. "Awake so early?"

"Y-yeah," Yuri replied nervously. Günter's gaze seemed to burn a hole through him. "Hardly slept."

"I can't sleep, either!" Günter added, a little too excitedly. They already had a common ground. "But, I know this wonderful tea mix that puts me to sleep immediately. I'll make you a batch right away. Wait here!" Günter slipped into his room in a blur and Yuri took the opportunity to run away. He rounded a few corners and gained speed on the last turn.

 _'Am I a magnet for demons?'_  That was the last thing Yuri remembered thinking before he collided with someone. He didn't know who it was since he was rubbing the side of his head. Looking down, he saw that it was Wolfram. Unconsciously, he reached down a hand to help him up.

"I can get up myself," Wolfram huffed, brushing Yuri's hand aside. He stood up, fixing his nightgown. "Just where were you?"

"I was-" as Yuri began to explain, he heard the sound of Günter's voice echoing through the hall. " _Notimetoexplain_!" Without thinking, Yuri grabbed Wolfram's hand and shot down another hall, flattening himself against the wall. It wasn't until he saw Günter running the other way out of the corner of his eye that he let go of Wolfram's hand. "Phew! So, where was I?"

Wolfram touched the palm of his hand with his fingers, a small blush streaking across his nose. "You were explaining why you disappeared..."

"Right," Yuri began, nervously scratching the back of his head. "I guess I just freaked out- wait a minute, just why were we in the same bed? If there's anyone that should be asking questions, it's  _me_!"

"Ha!" Snarled Wolfram. "Like you didn't know that I'm the representative's-"

 _'Apparently, no one will ever complete a phrase today,'_  thought Yuri, as yet another noise distracted him. "Did you hear that?"

"You heard it, too?" Wolfram looked for the source of the strange, screeching noise. He put his hands to the wall as if to put his ear against it, but he ended up falling right on through.

"Where'd he go?" Yuri asked aloud, whipping around his head.

"I'm in here," Came a groan from the other side of the wall.

"Huh?" Yuri carefully put his hand out, not believing his eyes when he saw it pass through the wall. "I swore this was solid just a minute ago!" Against his better judgment and heeding his curiosity, Yuri walked through the wall to the other side. He had expected to end up on the other side of the hall. What he didn't expect was a stone-paved chamber. On his left, Wolfram was standing up and fixing himself for the second time that day. "Where are we?"

"Hell if I knew," Wolfram muttered.

"You mean  _you_ don't know and you're the one that lives here?" Yuri shook his head in disbelief.

"Do you have any idea how  _immense_ this castle is?" Wolfram defended himself. "We wouldn't be here in the first place if you hadn't have been such a wimp and made us run away from Günter!"

"Hey, I didn't plan on us getting lost!" Yuri retaliated. "And just who are you calling a  _wimp_?" Yuri felt around the wall, but it became solid again. They were stuck there.

"Just let it go," Wolfram sighed, "And let's find a way out of here."

The two young men walked in a straight line with caution. They neared a spiral staircase leading further into the ground. After a glance at each other, they hesitantly moved forward. Small, glowing, floating blue orbs lit their path. By the time they reached the bottom of the staircase, Yuri's stomach began to grumble audibly. At Wolfram's annoyed glare, he answered, "I'm sure you haven't eaten breakfast, either."

"On the contrary," Replied Wolfram in a calm voice. "By the time breakfast had arrived, you were already gone. So, had you not disappeared, you would have been fine."

For the fifth time that morning, Yuri regretted ever getting out of bed in the first place. A glint caught his eye, however, and he let the breakfast deal slide. The glint was reflecting off a larger orb. "What is that?"

Wolfram had been very quiet after making his point. He had seen the light coming from the large, sharp orb before Yuri had even noticed it. The glow drew Wolfram towards it. He felt warm and cool at the same time and, before he knew it, his feet had already taken him to the orb.

Yuri watched as Wolfram approached the orb in a trance. When the blonde turned his head to glance back at him with blank, hypnotized eyes, Yuri was officially freaked out. He looked on as Wolfram began to glow blue and, in a flash, the blonde was gone.

Yuri took a greedy gulp of air when he realized that he was holding his breath the entire time. Why did everything seem to happen to him all at once? He woke up to strange surroundings, was almost kidnapped by a purple puffball, became lost, and now the only person that was by his side was gone. Frowning, he stepped up to the orb to observe it or at least to find out where the other boy had gone. He touched it with his right finger and received a painful shock of electricity. " ** _Ahh_**!" Where he had pressed his finger, there was a smudge of blood. Yuri frantically held his hand to his face to see a trail of dripping blood going down his wrist.

The orb formed cracks around Yuri's blood, absorbing it and multiplying it until the blood wound completely around. He inhaled sharply when the bloody cracks split open to expose two hovering figurines. The figurines formed a circle, the one at the bottom was in the shape of a man and the one at the top was in the shape of a dragon. Yuri squinted at the carved details. The man had serpentine eyes and pointy ears. The dragon echoed the man's position, but his wings curved above them. Yuri reached in and tried to grab the figurines, but was blasted away by a magical force. He didn't know what possessed him to try to take them, but he equally knew that he needed to have them.

With the blast, he staggered backwards. The heel of his foot came into contact with a knee...Wolfram's knee. "He's back?" Yuri hadn't a clue on how the blonde boy had returned. But, there he was, asleep on the ground behind him. Yuri bent down to shake the other boy's shoulder. When he didn't stir, he lifted him into his arms, carefully cradling his head onto his shoulder. A serious expression crossing his face, he stared at the orb once more. With Wolfram in his arms, he approached the orb for the second time. This time, they both disappeared.

:::::::::::::::::::

How many things could go wrong in a single moment? Yuri sat with his elbows on his knees, his hands with his interlaced fingers rested over his mouth as he contemplated. He had placed Wolfram onto the bed carefully and had been waiting patiently for the boy to awake. Yuri felt responsible, annoyed, and more than a little worried at the same time. He couldn't chance leaving to find help and getting lost again. No, that would be his last resort. All he could do was wait.

Whether it was patience or luck, Wolfram seemed to have heard his plea. The blonde's eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, but quickly coming into focus. "Mmm?" A moment later, he sat up, gasping. "Yuri!" The second that Wolfram's eyes met Yuri's, he blushed from the neck up. He didn't think that Yuri would actually be there. Worse yet, the first thing that flew out of his mouth was Yuri's name. What was the matter with him? He was supposed to hate the other-worldian! He was not supposed to be worrying about him! "I-I see that you got us out of there."

Yuri nodded once. "How are you feeling? The orb sent you somewhere and then spit you back out. It refused to send me where you were or transfer me anywhere unless you were with me."

Wolfram checked himself over. "I'm fine. And what do you mean by 'sending me somewhere' and 'transferring anywhere'?" He tilted his head to the side a bit. "And weren't you hungry?" Yuri's stomach answered the question for him. They agreed to hold off the rest of the conversation until Yuri was fed.

:::::::::::::::::::

The castle had four kitchens. Each was bigger than the last. The last kitchen was where Wolfram led Yuri. Noon was approaching and Yuri was as hungry as ever. The kitchens had a balanced mix of ancient and modern furniture and utensils. Stools were set around where a long counter rested. On one of the stools sat Ken Murata. On the stool next to him sat Varyx.

"I heard you took a little detour this morning," Hinted Ken.

"How did you know about that?" Yuri asked, incredulous.

"Varyx told me," Ken explained.

Yuri gaped at the little turquoise dragon. Varyx grinned at them, showing too many sharp teeth.

"I've never heard it talk before!" Yuri complained.

"Dragons aren't verbal, they're telepathic," Wolfram clarified with a yawn.

 _'Rats, he gave me away,'_ Snorted Varyx.

If Yuri had been on a stool, he would have fallen off at that point. Luckily, he was just  _about_  to be seated. And, he  _needed_  to sit down after hearing a dragon 'speak.'

"By 'Varyx told me' you mean that this little guy followed us, right?" Yuri began. "If he followed us, why didn't he go and get help after we got trapped in the wall?"

 _'Wall, you say?'_ Varyx wondered. _'I stopped following you after you turned the eighth corner of a hall. You can be a very tiresome Earthling.'_

Yuri made himself a mental note not to ever mad dash through unknown hallways ever again. "I see."

"You were trapped in a wall?" Ken asked.

"Yes, and it was all his fault," Wolfram huffed. There was something about Ken's knowledgeable eyes that made Wolfram reluctantly trust him.  _'Besides,'_ He thought,  _'Three heads are better than two sometimes._ ' Wolfram was out for some answers.


	6. The Vision

 

The Demon King's bi-colored eyes were affixed onto an image that floated across each of the faces of a small glass pyramid. The pyramid was held within the claws of a demon statuette. The demon raised a slight eyebrow in surprise when he was alerted to an intrusion of the orb chamber, and he looked on as the other-worldian representative managed to not only open the orb, but escaped with his life as well. Such a thing had not been possible during his reign. The orb was an ancient test of royal blood. The demon kings of past required blood that was powerful enough to cause the orb to open. If it opened, then that person was to be made king. No one outside of the royal family knew what was inside the orb. All that was publicly known was that its true core could drive a demon mad with the desire to take it. And, it had been centuries since anyone managed to extract the center of the core. The Demon King himself hadn't been able to get that far. The only conclusion was that this...other-worldian representative was _not_  what he seemed to be. The youth could even be a possible  _threat_.

:::::::::::::::::::

"I've seen it," Yuri admitted. All eyes fell on him. "I've seen the orb's core. It's a two-piece figurine of a dragon flying above a demon."

Varyx blinked at this new information. Did he just say "a dragon and a demon" in the same sentence? Varyx couldn't believe his ears.  _'I think it's finally time for me to introduce myself properly.'_  Varyx climbed onto the counter, not unlike a lizard would, and stood on his hind legs.  _'My name is Varyx Kaziek.'_

Ken focused his complete attention on his small friend, knowing that the dragon would reveal something very important. Yuri gave the dragon a blank, confused stare. Wolfram, however, was struggling to close his open mouth.

" _Kaziek_?" Wolfram's question was nearly a squawk. "But, I thought Kazieks were extinct! How is this possible?" Above all other animals, the blonde had always respected dragons. A dragon's mind was further advanced than even a demon's in their world. He felt a wave of shame go through him at not recognizing a Kaziek, especially one that was quite literally under his nose presently.

"Extinct?" Ken grew even more curious about Varyx's background.

"A Ka-what?" Yuri was as lost as ever.

 _'I am a breed of dragon that died off a thousand years ago,_ ' Varyx stated, clearing his throat and trying his best not to feel miffed or disappointed at the two other-worldians' reactions.

"A Kaziek alive now would be," Wolfram ranted, "Well, it would become a prince of all dragon kind! How is this possible?"

The three boys gave the dragon their undivided attention as he began to explain.  _'Perhaps, I should start from the beginning. It all started with my father remarried. He took a female that was not much older than myself as his new wife. A demon named Julia.'_  Varyx sighed.  _'I was against it at first, but then I saw how much they really loved each other. She ended up being my step mother, but more importantly, my good friend...'_

* * *

**~~~~~~~A Thousand Years Ago~~~~~~~**

* * *

_"Varyx..." The way the name was spoken sounded almost like a bird's song. The unique, trilling voice belonged to a teal-haired demon named Julia. "Varyx, I have a secret. A secret so grand that there is no one else that I can trust to divurge it to..."_

_"A secret?" Varyx urged warily when he finally noted the worried tone hidden within her voice. "What is this about?"_

_Julia carefully turned around. "I'll miss you, Varyx," She continued in an almost mystical manner. "You have been a comforting presence to me. It pains me to let you know of the vision I just had."_

_"A vision," Varyx repeated dryly. Whatever she had seen didn't seem to be anything good from the way she danced away from his gaze. Though her blind eyes were unreadable to him, the rest of her body language wasn't. And, whatever did she mean by " **I'll miss you** "?_

_"I saw something ominous. The end of this land and the end of your species," Julia explained gravely. "You must travel to the future. And it is my job to do everything within my power to send you off before the Destruction begins."_

_"The future?" Varyx fought the feeling of panic that began to build up inside of him. "What do I have to do? Is there any way to stop this...this Destruction you've foreseen?"_

_"It is an half-blood you will protect. It is an half-blood you will love," Was Julia's vague response, as if she had fallen into a trance. "And it is an half-blood that will save us all. You have to bring him to us."_

* * *

Three wide eyes gaped at Varyx as he finished his story. All three gazes had different degrees of disbelief, pity, and concern.

"Half-blood?" Ken asked aloud as he analyzed the words that Julia had told Varyx.

"What half-blood?" Wolfram echoed. The question was on everyone's minds.

Varyx sent Yuri a cold glare. _'I'm pretty sure as to which half-blood Julia was referring to. But, I don't have to be happy about it.'_

Yuri frowned. He had a feeling that Varyx was against him somehow from the beginning, but now his animosity was out in the open for all to see. Yuri took it like a slap in the face. "Hey, I'm not in a very different position than you are right now. I was plucked away from my home to help save another world as well, so don't look at me like I'm infected with some deadly virus that could kill us all!"

Wolfram glanced from Varyx to Yuri to Varyx again. He somehow pieced together the only conclusion he could arrive to. According to Julia's vision, Yuri would end up being Varyx's 'love.' A very cold feeling came over Wolfram's body at that moment. He felt his heart wretch for a moment and realized that he was starting to feel a strange anger towards Varyx. "Maybe she was wrong. Maybe that part of her vision wasn't-"

 _'Julia's visions were never wrong.'_ Varyx insisted. _'What she said always came true.'_ Even if he didn't wish it, the dragon added in the back of his mind. Varyx never liked it when others made decisions for him. He absolutely hated the fact that he was predestined to fall in love with such an useless other-worldian. But, even Varyx couldn't escape his fate. And he hated that part the most.

Neither Varyx, Wolfram, or Yuri saw the pained expression that came over Ken's face momentarily. Ken felt hurt, somehow, but he wasn't about to jump into the trio's argument. They had enough to deal with when it came to the loss of a world of the past and the future of the world they were in.

:::::::::::::::::::

"You wished to speak with us?" Conrad asked the Demon King, accompanied by Yozak.

"Yes," The Demon King purred. Though Conrad did not turn out to be the other-worldian representative, the Demon King still had an insatiable attraction to him. "One of my dragon riders felt a magnetic pulse beneath a section of land not too far from our kingdom. We believe that the shattered relic may lie beneath it..."

"You want us to gather a digging party until we find it?" Asked an incredulous Yozak.

"Sometimes the best way to handle things are the simplest ways," The Demon King smirked. The organized digging was a decoy. Just something to distract the representative and his newfound friends from trying to find the orb chamber again. Luckily, the entrance to the chamber never appeared in the same place twice. But, better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

~~~3 weeks Later~~~

* * *

Yuri Shibuya wondered fervently what he ever did in a past life to deserve such hardships. The Demon King ordered everyone within a fifty mile radius to create a dig site in the area of a magnetic pulse beneath the ground that was believed to be the planet's relic. Though Yuri wore a sleeveless white shirt and gray shorts, the sun pricked at him from all sides. There was no need to wear a mask, but the dust beneath them somehow still kicked up into the air. He had a feeling that his lungs were filling up with dirt as well. After plunging his shovel into a pile of dirt, Yuri turned to his side and wiped a smudge of dirt off of Wolfram's nose.

The act had caused Wolfram to blush slightly, and then, he concentrated even harder on digging. Two weeks prior, Wolfram had finally explained to Yuri why they were forced to share a room and a bed. Yuri had laughed at first, but then cut his laughter short as he saw that Wolfram was serious. Yuri tried to tell the Demon King that he didn't need such a 'gift' and how degrading the very thought was, but the Demon King only laughed and told him to 'keep the boy anyway.' The two had become great friends even under such awkward circumstances, but there was something that Wolfram kept to himself. Something that made him moody at times and distant even though they were so close.

Yuri took it upon himself to find out what that was, even if it killed him. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked over his shoulder. Ken had taken a break from digging as well and sat down to talk with Varyx. The dragon felt Yuri's gaze and didn't hesitate to send a glare his way. Despite Julia's vision, Varyx and Yuri argued like squabbling siblings. They hardly got along at all. The only person with patience enough to get along with said dragon was Ken, who seemed to enjoy talking to him. "I'm calling it a day," Yuri said aloud. "Let's go inside to change and grab something to eat."

"You go on ahead," Wolfram replied, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "I can still dig some more."

"Digging some more now or later won't really make a difference," Yuri countered. "We should all rest."

"I said I'm not tired," Wolfram whined.

"And I say we should take a break," Yuri persisted. "Do I have to make it an order? Stop being so damn stubborn." That earned him a burning glare from Wolfram, but it managed to make him stop his digging enough to follow him inside.

Ken and Varyx watched the interaction from a distance and knew that things were going to get heated this time. They would be sure to stay as far away as possible.

:::::::::::::::::::

"There," Yuri sighed happily as he sank lower in the warm water of the baths. "Now, don't you feel better?"

"I still could have dug some more," Wolfram huffed. "I don't know why you were so intent on stopping me. Just because you have to take a break doesn't meant that I have to."

"Well, excuse me for showing some concern for a friend," Yuri drawled. "Why can't you just drop the fuss for once?"

"Drop the fuss?" Wolfram hissed. "Like that silent vow to 'drop the fuss' you made with Varyx weeks ago?"

"You always have to bring the dragon into the conversation, don't you?" Yuri tilted his head back, covering his face with a hand. "I know what ** _I_**  personally have against him, but what do  _you_ hate about the winged piranha?"

"Nothing really," Wolfram huffed in denial. "I don't see why you always take his side."

"I never take his side!" Was Yuri's indignant reply. "We just have a sort of truce going, is all."

"Yeah, truce," Wolfram rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want to call it."

"What do you mean by that?" Yuri suddenly became confused.

"Go on, admit it," Wolfram smiled bitterly. "You like the dragon more than me."

Yuri's face was frozen in a mixture of anger and shock. "What?" He found it absolutely incredulous, as well as ridiculous, that the blonde had come to that conclusion.

"But, hey," Wolfram continued to rant. "Between Varyx and Günter, you're just set, aren't you?"

A dark shadow came over Yuri's face. "Oh, that is  _it_ ," He growled as he grabbed Wolfram's shoulders and pinned him against the wall of the bath. "You are  _telling_  me what all this is about and you are telling me now. I am sick and tired of your random bursts of hostility. Tell me what's really bothering you!"

Though a thin streak of blush rose to Wolfram's face, and though he shivered unconsciously to Yuri's touch, Wolfram replied with, "And I'm sick of your ordering me around-"

The next thing that happened was quite unexpected for the both of them. Yuri, after being the one to demand an answer from Wolfram, suddenly wanted the blonde to shut up. His brain and body seemed to crave the same thing, and he ended up covering Wolfram's mouth in a fierce kiss.

The blonde wasn't one to take such a thing lightly, so he responded to the kiss with a fierceness of his own. The battle ensued until they were both out of breath and had to back away.

They were both still fuming when they pulled away, but not as much. The anger had converted into desire, which was a welcome substitute for the both of them after enduring so many fights. Wolfram lifted his hands to cradle the back of Yuri's head and pulled him down for another kiss just as Yuri wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist to drag him closer. This time, the joining of their lips was a gentle, soothing sensation. The kiss seemed to wash away all the weeks of tension and frustration, leaving only the feelings that were at the core of it all, jealousy and love.

 

  



	8. The White Dragon

 

a/n: Appologies on the late uploads, I keep forgetting some of you actually read this one, ha ha ha.

 

:::

"I don't think that it's right to keep Wolfram out of this discussion," Conrad said as he sat down akimbo on top of an orange cloud. Gwendal, Günter, Yozak, Varyx, and himself were in an in-between dimension niche. At first, the group was concerned that Varyx had not retained his powers in the form that he was currently in, but the violet-eyed dragon managed to prove them wrong. Thus, they were able to cross over to the niche that they were holding their meeting in.

"He is far too busy warming Yuri's bed," Varyx huffed indignantly.

"To include Wolfram would have made it impossible that Yuri not be included as well, and we don't know how closely the Demon King has him monitored," Gwendal stated.

"We don't even know if he's monitoring us right now," Günter added.

"Now, I highly doubt that," Yozak drawled with a slight shake of his head. "Niches have always been 'out of range' for any kind of tracing spell."

"Alright," Conrad conceded with a sigh. "Now that we're here, we should figure out our next logical step."

"This is what we do know," Varyx began as he recounted everything that came to mind. "Yuri is a half-demon that originated from Drow Neztirix and was sent to Earth because of a vision that came to Lady Ulrike." He glanced at Conrad to verify the information and the brown-haired man nodded for him to continue. "The Demon King claims that something is wrong with the relic core of Drow Neztirix and that only another relic could replace it..."

"Sounds like it involves stealing another world's core to me," Yozak noted.

"First, he attempts to get on Yuri's...good graces...by offering Wolfram to him as a gift." Varyx continued to think aloud. "Only to prod at him later on as if he were some caged dragon in order to see just how hot the temperature of his fire would be-"

"And by 'fire', you mean Yuri's power," Gwendal added. "But, the vision that Lady Ulrike saw mentioned  _nothing_ about Yuri taking over as the Demon King of this land. Does the King see Yuri as a threat?"

"But, if the Demon King sees Yuri as a threat, why would he enlist his aide in the first place?" Günter wondered.

Silence fell over the five men for a moment.

"Damn." Yozak stretched and shifted his position to flop back on the clouds that made up their ground. He stared up at the sunset-hued sky. "Doesn't matter which way you cut it, you just can't shake off the feeling that we're nothing but puppets that are being tugged every which way by the King for his sole amusement."

* * *

Varyx glanced down at Ken. His pointed ears noted the young man's breathing pattern and the dragon realized that he wasn't truly asleep. When he was in his original form, his accommodations involved a cave near the border of the kingdom. In his demon form, his accommodations were situated in the room next to Ken's. Though he didn't have much difficulty controlling his powers or the physical aspects of his new form, he  _did_  have difficulty controlling his emotions. They... _confused_  him.

Being in a demon form concerned him. He wanted to confront the Demon King and toss the talisman at his feet, demanding to be changed into his original form, but the demon brothers kept him from storming to the Demon King's chambers. The truth was that no one knew exactly what had caused his form to change. Varyx suspected that it had something to do with Yuri's power surge. Luckily, he was still able to have the use of his powers, as limited as they currently were. If he was patient, perhaps the rest of his power would regenerate and he would be able to change back at will.

A millennium had passed since his world had been destroyed. Varyx had spent a good century in frustration until he let Julia's words sink in. She told him 'you have to bring him to us.' And that meant that there was a chance that he could return to that world, somehow...even if it meant that he had to remain there. Such a thought had never bothered him until recently.

"How is that working out for you?" Ken whispered calmly with his eyes closed. "Sneaking out to secret meetings without me?" When his black eyes opened, they weren't set in a glare, but a hint of irritation still glinted within them.

Varyx didn't flinch, but the look in Ken's eyes brought forth a strange reaction in his body. Even though the young man was clearly angry with him, Varyx couldn't help but appreciate the fire behind those dark eyes that were so different from his own. "We don't know how closely you both are being watched. We only reviewed what we knew."

"Why do you worry about my safety so much?" Ken asked as he lifted himself into a sitting position. "Yuri aside, that is."

Slitted violet eyes shifted a bit. "I care for the safety of every innocent being in the kingdom-"

"Why do you worry about  _my_ safety so much?" Ken repeated sharply, reaching out to squeeze one of the dragon's hands in a tight grip.

"Ken..." Varyx hissed at the sharp pressure of their hands.

"This is nothing compared to the bite you once gave my hand," Ken replied with a half-smirk. He wasn't even violent by nature, the dragon's demon form must have been more sensitive than he had wagered. "Now, answer me honestly."

Varyx's movements were swift. He tugged his hand away from Ken's grip and, in the same moment, used his other hand to tug Ken closer by the front of his pajama top. "I don't know, alright?" His eyelids fell to half-mast and he released him. "I don't know..."

"It really is a shame," Ken replied, avoiding eye contact this time. "That I no longer know what you are thinking."

:::::::::::::::::::

_"They say that none of us even look related," A small, younger, Wolfram complained to his mother with a pout. "And I don't like what they say about Conrad because he has no magic."_

_"Does it matter all that much what others think of your family?" Lady Celi questioned. "Though you had different fathers, all three of you share the same blood, my blood. And all of you have my love and each other."_

_"What was my father like?" Wolfram asked hesitantly._

_"He was strong and powerful," Lady Celi replied. "As well as respected." A smile formed on her face. "And he was very...golden."_

:::::::::::::::::::

Wolfram frowned as thoughts of his mother lingered in his mind as he woke up. The only family he knew consisted of his mother and brothers. His eldest brother, Gwendal, was tasked with being the head of their family unit and worked directly under the Demon King. His middle brother, Conrad, had been given a mission by an oracle to safeguard a half-demon baby that turned out to be Yuri. The brown-haired man wasn't allowed to reveal where he was to travel, but Wolfram had assumed it was to be some other country,  _not_  another world entirely! He hadn't even recognized him at first on his return. The blonde was rather angry with his brother for staying away for so long, but for some reason, all of his anger dissipated during the first few weeks of Conrad's return. Wolfram supposed that he had missed his brother more than he had allowed himself to believe.

And that left his mother, Lady Cecilie. His mother had once taken over as a substitute ruler until the current Demon King underwent the trial and took the throne. His uncle, Lord Stoffel, and their mutual friend, Raven, had helped her keep order. Wolfram was too young to understand what exactly caused the rift between friendships, but the end results were that Raven chose to work for the Demon King and his mother and uncle both left the kingdom for a while. Though his mother frequently visited the castle on her way back from her travels, Wolfram had not seen his uncle Stoffel since.

"Wolfie!" An all too familiar squeal nearly startled Wolfram right off his bed.

"M-m-mother?" He hissed into the room, turning his head wildly as he searched for the green eyes that he had inherited. "Mother!"

"Why didn't you write to tell your mother about your first beloved!?" Lady Celi closed the space between herself and her youngest son so rapidly that the weight bounced Yuri right off the other side of the bed.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Yuri whined from the ground as he pulled himself carefully to a sitting position while rubbing his shoulder and arm.

"W-well, you see," Wolfram's excuse fell short on breath as his mother began to suffocate him. "Mmmm fmmm vu murff!"

All that Yuri first saw were nothing but locks of long golden hair. Then, his eyes fell on Wolfram's face which was buried right in his mother's chest. "Uh, hello?"

"Oh! And you must be Yuri!" Lady Celi chirped as she redirected her attention to the dark-haired boy. Wolfram mouthed the words 'my mother' to Yuri when he was freed. She managed to haul Yuri back onto the bed by tugging his elbow, and then she proceeded to squeeze them both in a tight hug. "You're both simply adorable! And sharing the same bed so soon? My my. My little Wolfie's growing up!"

When they were finally released, Yuri and Wolfram's faces changed from blue to bright red. "If you would allow me to explain," Yuri began. "The Demon King decided to cause us a bit of grief and presented Wolfram to me as-" Yuri's words were silenced as Lady Celi squeezed his cheeks together with a hand and turned his head from side to side as if she were looking him over.

"Yes, I think you will certainly do. My Wolfie deserves nothing but the best!" She declared as she finally let Yuri go. "Train him well, sweetie." She told her son as she reached out to ruffle the top of his head and placed a kiss to his forehead. "I expect to see you both for supper!"

Yuri felt a little pale as he saw the door close behind the voluptuous woman. "What just...happened?" He whimpered.

"My mother seems to think that we're an item," Wolfram replied with a sigh.

"What?" Yuri gasped as the events began to catch up in his head. "B-but, I haven't even asked you out properly yet!"

Wolfram didn't know why such off-handed words made him feel as if his heart was melting, but they did. For a moment, the smile on his face was pure and wondrous. Then, it became a devious smirk as Wolfram crawled closer to the other-worldian with low-lidded green eyes. "I take that to mean that you've already thought of  _when_ you were going to ask me out?"

The cosmos have mercy on him, but Yuri felt all of his danger alarms go off at once. He felt his previous blush coming back at full force, the red creeping down his neck as he inched his way back against the headboard of the bed. "Y-you know," He began after a gulp. "We never did finish our conversation from before."

"Yes, you had asked me how I felt about you," Wolfram purred as he clambered onto Yuri's lap and held the boy's face in his hands. He leaned closer so that their noses brushed against each other. "I'm much more interested in SHOWING you, instead." That being said, the blonde closed the distance between their mouths and took Yuri's lips in a slow, sensual kiss. Wolfram smirked into the kiss when he felt Yuri's shaky hands settle onto his hips and the dark-haired representative beneath his thighs began to kiss him back. The blonde's tongue darted out to lick beneath Yuri's upper lip when the door to their room was opened.

"You know, every time I see the two of you, against my better judgment, I begin to doubt parts of Julia's words more and more."

Wolfram highly, highly disliked that blasted dragon. " _Curse_ you, Kaziek." He grumbled under his breath. "This better be important!" He tossed over his shoulder.

"It is," Varyx replied calmly. "We're taking a little field trip to the orb chamber. Now. Before the Demon King awakes."

* * *

"I thought Ken had lost its location since last time," Wolfram whispered as the three of them padded quickly through the corridors.

"It hasn't moved since," Varyx explained. "Which is rather odd considering it's kept constantly mobile up until now."

"How exactly did Ken find it, anyway?" Yuri asked aloud as they turned a corner.

A ghost of a smile formed on Varyx's face. "He was trying to find a restroom and ended up falling through a wall instead."

When they rounded one more corner, Ken was seen waiting for them at the end of the hallway. "Hurry, we don't have much time to investigate."

The four of them cautiously walked through the wall where Ken had indicated and took the spiral staircase down to the orb's location. "Which one of these is the orb?" Varyx wondered as he stared at all the little blue orbs that lit their way down.

"That's it right there," Wolfram pointed out as they approached the large orb. As soon as Yuri neared it, it began to crack open again. The piece hovered and rotated around the figurines. Varyx and Ken glanced at each other before each taking a hold of Yuri and Wolfram's shoulders, just in case. Yuri subconsciously took hold of Wolfram's hand and used the other to reach towards the orb. The entire group disappeared this time, along with the orb itself.

:::::::::::::::::::

Ken was the first to come to. As he began to rise, he felt his cheek rubbing against something warm. In fact, half of his body felt warm. When dark eyes opened into a squint due to the bright light, he carefully lifted his head and realized that he was half-sprawled over Varyx and one of the dragon's arms was curled over his waist. A streak of pink formed across Ken's nose and cheeks for a moment before he quickly shifted aside. He was not in the mood to embarrass himself by allowing his body to do as it wished, not when Varyx didn't even like being touched in his demon form. He took a small moment to glance down at the unconscious dragon. His hands were itching to rake through the aquamarine locks in order to feel the texture of the strands, but Ken forced himself to take in their surroundings instead.

His eyes first searched for Yuri and Wolfram, but the other two were nowhere to be seen. He noticed that they were on high ground and the dust beneath them was the color of copper. The sky was a coral color and a sun was shining brightly through sparse lilac clouds. In the distance, there seemed to be the edges of a round crater. Ken nearly jumped in shock when a dark shadow zoomed over them. When he glanced up, he realized it was the shadow of, what he could only assume to be, a dragon. He stood up slowly and his mouth fell slightly open at the sight before him. Inside the crater was an entire civilization. A large tower was flanked by two towers of lesser height and beneath it all were buildings of all shapes and sizes. Dragons flew in and out of the city in groups of differing formations.

One of Ken's hands settled on his hip while the other lightly scratched the top of his head. "Well, I'll be."

:::::::::::::::::::

Yuri felt a strange breeze ruffle his face and hair. The breeze came in timed bursts and the consistency of it made him open his eyes. Instant panic. He had been sleeping on top of the foreleg of a sleeping dragon! The dragon was rather large and white. Gold-colored scales rolled down in intricate patterns all over its body. The underside was gold-hued, as well as the sharp claws. Yuri tried to make sense of how he ended up in the clutches of such a creature when the dragon opened its eyes. They were green...Wolfram green. "...Wolfram?" Yuri asked slowly and carefully.

 _'Hmm, where are we?'_  What was clearly Wolfram's voice echoed within Yuri's mind.

"Ok, Wolfram...I don't want you to panic," Yuri began as he took a few cautionary steps away. "But, slowly take a look at yourself."

Wolfram stretched as gracefully as a cat, his green eyes still trying to come into focus. When he finally looked at his arms, all four of his paws began to scamper backwards in reaction. 'Are those my arms!?' He shrieked mentally, his wings flapping in anxiety behind him.  _'Wait, are those wings? Yuri, what happened to me!'_

Yuri brought his hands down from his ears, which he had brought up in vain to try to lessen the volume of Wolfram's shrieking. "Let's put it this way...if you've ever dreamed of what it would be like to fly like a dragon, your wish has certainly been granted." He replied with a sheepish half-smile.

 _'This is no joking matter!'_  Wolfram huffed as he tried to steady himself onto all four of his legs.

"I know," Yuri replied seriously this time. He reached out to place his hand on the side of Wolfram's face, noting that the scales were far softer than Varyx's scales were. "We'll figure it out together, Wolfram."

Wolfram's head turned to press his snout against Yuri's hand in a nuzzle. _'...Thank you.'�_

 

 


	9. Leaving a Mark

 

His master wanted the brown-haired other-worldian. Raven could  _sense_  that the King was rather attracted to him. Whenever he was given leave of his master's chambers, it was because the King was surely pleasuring himself while spying on Conrad. Though most of him was rather bothered by the fact that he was being replaced by mere images, a smaller part of him questioned  _why_. The further that his master shoved him aside, the further Raven's dreams of blonde siblings invaded his mind. He categorized the visions as 'dreams' because they couldn't have possibly been actual  _memories_...could they? Perhaps Conrad's distractions were a hidden blessing for Raven. The more time he had to himself, the more he could sort out his dreams and his true feelings.

:::::::::::::::::::

"You wanted to see me, your majesty?" Conrad asked as he warily entered the Demon King's chambers. He felt that his wariness was justified as soon as he realized that there was no one else in the room other than the king and himself. Why did he have such a bad feeling about this?

"Sir Conrad." The words were spoken in a husky purr. King Razden had the decency to at least wear a jet black silk robe before attending to the half-demon. He wanted answers. He wanted Conrad. Was there a reason he couldn't have both? "I assure you," He said as he closed and locked the door behind Conrad. "This should not take too long."

Conrad hadn't noticed how dark the king's chambers really were until the door was shut. The only source of light came from a candle settled on top of a night stand. He began to step backwards towards the light of the flickering flame when the Demon King neared him with glowing bi-colored eyes. The vibrant red and yellow hues began to captivate him and his feet stopped back-tracking.

When the man stopped in his tracks with newly vacant eyes, Razden licked his lips in anticipation. Contrary to the rumors that circled around him, the Demon King did not have a forked or elongated tongue. But, it was certainly proportionate for his size. And, it tried not to salivate as Razden freely looked the man over without any interference. "These days, there is hardly a demon that is of pure blood," He commented aloud. "Even I have mixed roots...a serpentine dragon, amongst them. I inherited this Transfixing gaze from that part of my blood."

Razden closed the distance between them, burying his nose in the crook of Conrad's neck. "You seem to have both human and demon blood in you," The king's tongue traced a long line up the side of his neck.

"I've had many a halfling in the past, but for some reason, I am more strongly drawn to you than those before you."

Conrad's body kept perfectly still, as if he were made of stone. His eyes remained vacant, as if he were sleep-walking and was fully lost in a dream.

"Lay down on my bed. On your back with your arms lifted over your head and your legs spread," The king ordered and watched intently as Conrad did as he was told. Razden's long fingers quickly got to work undoing the man's pants and tugging them down along with his underwear. As his hands slid along the skin, he began the questioning. "Our young Representative...why did he grow up on Earth? Was it you who brought him there?"

"I was tasked..." Despite the glazed eyes and detached voice, Conrad's breath hitched in response to the king's touch. "With protecting him in the other world."

King Razden frowned, but his hands continued their movements. He wasn't asking the right questions. "What did he need protecting from? Who ordered you to protect him?"

"To protect him from himself and all the powers that dwell inside him," Conrad replied breathily in the same unified tone. "The Lady Ulrike claimed that it was the will of the cosmos and of the kings of the Past."

"The kings of the Past?" Razden hissed, retracting his hands from Conrad as if burned. They were also referred to as the Elders of the End. The spirits of the dead never truly interfered with the work of the living, but when they did, it was always in conjunction with tremendous and chaotic events.

Razden's eyes narrowed as he tried to calm his rapidly beating heart. "The kings of the Past...and one of them has left his mark on you." He clarified with a long sigh. "It's no wonder that I've been drawn to you like a magnet. Your patron Elder has been flirting with me." The king glanced around him as if he were searching for the Elder. "Tsk-tsk! If you like me so much, you shouldn't send me notes through a messenger. Hand them to me yourself," He spoke out loud. Though Razden had put out the taunt in the first place, he was still a little surprised when he felt the presence of an Elder actually manifesting in his chambers. His surprise turned into outright shock when his gaze fell upon the piercing blue eyes of the original demon king. "Shinou...?"

"Only a king like you would have the gall to hand over one of  _my_  descendants as a gift to your own successor," The smirk on the blonde's face was full of mockery and secret knowledge.

Alabaster hand clenched into fists. "What do you mean by 'successor'? That snot-nosed brat raised in another world was meant to  _replace_  me?"

"No king is meant to rule forever," Shinou replied calmly. "You are not exempt. Yuri has been chosen and, when the time comes for him to rule, you  _will_  step down." The words were clipped and sharp in their orders, as if he dared Razden to do otherwise.

"How  _is_  it that the kings of Past interfere with the living whenever they want? Have you forgotten what it was like to be flesh and bone?" Razden growled in a rebellious manner. "Before I die, I will not only leave my mark on  _this_  world, but on  _other_  worlds as well."

Shinou's eyes took on a dangerous icy hue as he took on a solid form. He waved his arm over Conrad's dazed form, transporting him out into the hallway fully dressed, awake, and confused. "Do as you wish," Shinou's whispering was so sharp that the current king nearly flinched. The blonde pinned Razden to the bed, much like the raven-haired man had done with Conrad moments before. He straddled him, grinding down hard against him before lowering his lips to the mixed demon's ears. "But, if too much harm befalls my descendant and the other-worldians, do not doubt that I will be forced to leave my mark on  _you_." He then planted a harsh kiss on slightly open lips, slipping his tongue inside to taste and claim. One of his hands slid easily inside the silk robe to tease whatever he pleased. Shinou swallowed the groan that Razden offered him and faded away with a smug smirk on his face.

The Demon King's mouth was still slightly open long after the original king had left. What he could only describe as the blonde's aura still lingered over his body. He felt a tingle trail over his skin as if it mourned the loss of Shinou's touch, and an angry growl resonated from the back of his throat.

"RAVEN!"

:::::::::::::::::::

Conrad was still feeling confused as he walked in the direction of Gwendal's quarters. He remembered being summoned by the Demon King. He remembered walking to the king's chambers and he remembered seeing the door open...but, he recalled nothing else. And, to top it off, he felt a strange tingling in his left arm...which he normally only when he was in the presence of the original king.

"Is something troubling you?" Gwendal asked from behind his desk as he carefully observed his younger half-brother.

"I have a feeling that I may have missed something very important," Conrad replied.

"I have something very important to discuss with you as well," Gwendal began. "Mother has returned. Have you seen any signs of Murata, Yuri, our younger brother, or the dragon turned demon at all today?"

:::::::::::::::::::

 _'All the times I asked her about my father, she could have at the very **least**_   _told me he was a dragon!'_

Yuri thought it was amazing how sarcasm and disdain could bleed through telepathy. He was walking side by side with the white dragon, absently scratching the back of his webbed ears or touching his neck, but always keeping some sort of physical contact. He kept telling himself that it was to give Wolfram some comfort, but in reality, he couldn't help but like this side of the blonde as well. "It figures you'd make as gorgeous a dragon as you do a demon," He mumbled quietly to himself.

' _I heard that_ ,' Wolfram replied, pleased.  _'I guess that's one good thing about this form, all of my senses are keener_.'

The two of them were following the path of a stream towards a city in the distance. They were separated from Ken and Varyx, but Yuri actually preferred having  _Wolfram_  as his walking companion than the other two for the moment. Every now and then, he caught the white dragon flexing and stretching his wings, as if he were itching to try them out. "Hey Wolf..." He began. "You don't know when you'll get the chance again, so why don't you try taking off to the sky?" An elegant snout turned to look him in the eyes...at least, that what Yuri saw from his low angle. Wolfram would have had to lean down to actually be able to look him in the eyes.

 _'I can't tell if you're mocking me or if you're genuinely suggesting that I leap to my death,'_ Wolfram drawled.

"Why does everything  _new_  have to be so difficult for you?" Yuri replied with a chuckle. He figured out a way he could possibly goad Wolfram into flying. "You know what? Forget I said anything. It's not like you could figure out how to fly so quickly. I'm sure even Varyx took a while to learn, and he's  _loads_  smaller in his dragon form."

 _'What was that?'_  Came the dry response.

"I'm just saying that you don't have to do anything you don't want to..."

All that Yuri saw was a blur of white scales zoom past him as Wolfram took off ahead of them at a run. For a moment, Yuri was mesmerized seeing the patterns glinting off the back of his wings as he began to spread them open. And then, Yuri panicked when Wolfram curved around and began to gallop towards him. "W-Wolfram, what are you doing?  _WHOA_!" And, just like that, they began to ascend into the sky. Yuri was held carefully in the dragon's forearms, the wind whipping at his short hair. "Ha ha! Wolf, you're amazing!" He shrieked his praise. They would certainly arrive at the city in the distance a lot faster by air.

:::::::::::::::::::

Varyx awoke with a strong pull from his stomach. "Uh..." He groaned as his hand reached out to try to squeeze the organ through his outer flesh. The grumbling was loud enough for even Ken to hear the second time around. "Perhaps I should have had a meal before we set out for the orb chamber." He admitted sheepishly as he pulled himself to a sitting position. He was only able to enjoy seeing Ken's smile for a brief moment before they were cast in a shadow that soared above them. With incredulous eyes, Varyx gazed up at the formation of dragons that flew overhead. He rapidly rose to his feet and looked around wildly. _There!_  In the distance, he could see the city.  _His_  city. His  _home_. "Am I dreaming?"

"Do you need me to bite your hand to test that theory?" Ken countered with a little smirk.

"Ken! Varyx! There you guys are!"

Ken and Varyx looked at each other for a brief moment before turning around in a circle to look for that familiar voice.

_'Oh, for crying out loud, doesn't anyone ever think to look **up**?'_

Varyx visibly stiffened before slowly turning his gaze upwards. "I can scarcely believe my own eyes."

"Find a few answers; end up with even more questions." Ken muttered as the white dragon landed on shaky legs, Yuri in its grasp.

"Long story short, Wolfram was like this when we came to. Where, exactly, are we?" Yuri asked.

" _Lugoz Wimlos_ ," Varyx replied. "The land where I was born."

Silence greeted that statement until Wolfram decided to break it. _'Didn't you tell us that your home world was destroyed a thousand years ago?'_

"Exactly," Varyx responded. "This plane shouldn't even exist. And there is only one person who can give us answers.  _Julia_."

 


	10. My Life is Mine

 

* * *

**~~~~Drow Neztirix: Present Day~~~~**

* * *

Raven looked on as his master stomped and paced furiously back and forth. He was certainly not acting like his usual composed and devious self.

"He said that the puny demon would be my replacement!" The Demon King ranted. " _Me?_ Step down for someone as young as  _him_? Just what are the kings of the Past even  _thinking!?_ "

"The boy has not even undergone the royal test…" Raven's voice trailed off when he saw the frustration on his master's face.

"He found the orb chamber. It opened for him," King Razden explained. "For his blood, just as it did with me."

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," Raven gasped.

"Yes, I am well aware of that." The Demon King growled. He made his way over to his glass pyramid and spun it. "Earth's Representative. Show me." He waited for a moment, but when nothing happened, he hissed and spun it once more. "The blonde, Wolfram. Show me!" When nothing appeared yet again, he let out a yell. "Just where are they!?"

* * *

**~~~~Lugos Wimlos: 5000 Years Prior~~~~**

* * *

As the group walked through the city, Varyx was quickly realizing that what they were looking at was not the same Lugos Wimlos that he had grown up in. In fact, the way some of the dragons were dressed in their demon forms, made him realize that the time frame was before he was even born. "This is strange…" He admitted outloud to his comrades. "I believe we are further in the past of Lugos Wimlos than I previously thought."

"Was Julia even alive this far back?" Ken questioned aloud.

The teal-haired man took a moment to figure out the time period. "If we go by what I am seeing, then I am afraid that she was not." Varyx confided. "We have no other choice than to speak with the current Kaziek Viceroy…my father's  _grandfather_."

"This is just getting weirder and weirder." Yuri commented.

When the four of them reached the fortress, they were stopped by the guards. Varyx immediately stepped forward. "We have urgent business with the Viceroy. It involves the safety of all of Lugos Wimlos!"

"Unless you have a license, then you are not to pass." One of the guards stated dryly.

"You do not understand-!" Varyx began again only to be stopped by one of Wolfram's paws.

"Let them be, they are only performing their duties." The green-eyed dragon insisted. He urged the three to walk back in the direction from which they came. But, then he lowered his head to whisper. "Hold on," He said as he promptly grabbed Yuri with one paw and Ken and Varyx with the other.

"What are you doing?" Varyx questioned as the back of Ken's body was pressed against the front of his own.

"Seeking an audience!" Wolfram replied as he quickly bounded back towards the entrance and took off in a sharp flight right past the guards.

"Halt!" The guards called out, but Wolfram barged right on through the fortress.

"Sharp left!" Varyx guided him once they were inside. "Slow down towards the end of this hallway and make a right!"

A few moments later, the four of them burst through a set of double doors.

"I wish to relay urgent news to the Viceroy!" Varyx called out.

The three dragons in the room were in the middle of an audience with a blacksmith that lived on the edge of the city. They stopped addressing the blacksmith and glanced at one another before urging the dragon to go on his way.

"What urgent news do you speak of?" Viceroy Zoah Kaziek asked outloud. The young dragon was in his demon form. Though his eyes were a warm brown, his waist-length hair was the same aquamarine hue as Varyx's.

Varyx stood forward and gave him a formal vow. "My name is Varyx Kaziek, Viceroy Zoah." When he stood back up, he looked him dead in the eye. "And I am your great-grandson from the future."

The two dragons on either side of the Viceroy gasped. "Impossible!" One of them said.

"How can such a thing be true?" The other one questioned as his blue eyes narrowed and he gave the group a suspicious glare. He stared a little longer at Wolfram for a moment, a frown forming on his face. Why did that dragon look so familiar to him?

"Your young son is Krest Kaziek, my grandfather. His son will be named Lazor Kaziek, after your own father." Varyx stated quickly. "And I was born to a lovely dragoness named Luz and, after she passes away, my father remarries a demon woman named Julia…"

Viceroy Zoah raised his hand to stop him from saying more. "My son hasn't told anyone other than me that he would name any future son of his after this grandfather. I am listening."

The four of them visibly relaxed when the Viceroy believed them, some with sighs of relief. Wolfram, tired of being on all fours, settled down into a sitting position. Yuri gently leaned against the dragon's shoulder. Ken gave Varyx's shoulder a gentle squeeze of support.

"Great-grandfather," Varyx began. "In four thousand years' time, this entire realm is destroyed. Lady Julia had a vision and sent me into the future to seek help. There, I became allies with several demons." He shifted to motion towards Ken. "Ken Murata and Yuri Shibuya from planet Earth. Yuri is Earth's Representative. Beside him is Lord Wolfram from Drow Nestirix…a demon who clearly has dragon blood in him."

"That is hardly fair!" Wolfram huffed. "I know not of my full heritage. My mother, Lady Cecilie-"

"Lady Cecilie?" The golden dragon to the Viceroy's left questioned. He immediately walked around the young white dragon to take in his features. "Do you not mean Cecilie, the Demon  _Queen_?"

"She may have been the Demon Queen when I was a child, but the current Demon King is King Razden." Wolfram responded.

"How old are you now?" The golden dragon insisted.

"Eighty-two, if you must know." Wolfram replied.

"You're  _eighty-two_?" Yuri balked.

"Honestly! Humans age differently than demons-" Wolfram began, only to be cut off by the golden dragon.

"And demons age differently than dragons." The golden dragon finished. His scales began to glow and, a moment later, a tall man stood before them. He had long, golden blonde hair that was braided down to the back of his knees. His eyes were a piercing blue. "My name is Bartolo Kaziek." He stated with a sharp bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my son."

"SON?" Wolfram shrieked.

The room fluttered into awkward silence.

"Please, change into your demon form so that I may at least shake your hand." Bartolo pleaded.

"I don't even know how!" The green-eyed dragon insisted with an impolite snort.

Yuri could tell that Wolfram was beyond nervous and irritated. He ran his hand along his companion's neck in a comforting manner. "When the Orb sent us here, Wolfram awoke in this form." He explained.

"You need to be in a calmer state of mind to begin with," Bartolo instructed. "Close your eyes and envision your demon form, along with the clothes that you usually wear."

Wolfram wanted to tell the man to go to hell with his orders, but since they both had the same goal in mind for the moment, he went along and closed his eyes. He felt a warmth rolling down all of his scales and into his heart and the rest of his body. When he opened his eyes once more, he was in his demon form once again. "Hmm, so it worked." As he turned to look at Yuri, a frowned formed on his face. "What is it? Why is your face so red?"

"Just look at what you're wearing!" Yuri pointed out as he motioned towards the white night gown Wolfram wore.

"In spite of how it looks, it's quite comfortable," Wolfram responded without a care. "Besides, I imagine that my formal clothes would have been more complicated to bring forth."

"Excellent instincts, my son," Bartolo replied with a rueful smile as he shook his hand.

"Did you know?" The green-eyed young man rounded on his father, his hand squeezing the older man's a bit tighter before letting go. "Did you  _know_ about me?"

The golden-haired man frowned. "No. If I had, I would have never allowed her to leave as she did, regardless of her kingdom and her older children."

An expression came across Wolfram's face. One that no one had ever seen before. It was a cross of pity, understanding, and sadness. "Her duties lied with the demon kingdom and her remaining family." He said. "Just as yours surely lie here, with your own family."

" _You_ are part of that family." Bartolo countered.

"As true as that is, we are from future. Mother surely risked much to keep me alive and I can't even imagine what the consequences would have been had she told you I existed." Wolfram shook his head. "Therefore, I apologize for my mother…for her having not told you. But, I am grateful to have been brought up in the demon kingdom, grateful to be alive." He replied. "That isn't to say that I wouldn't have been happy here with you, father…but a child needs his mother the most, is that not so?"

The tall man took hold of the back of Wolfram's head and hugged the younger man to his wide chest. "Look at you…the pride of a demon and the pride of a dragon from head to foot." He mused through a tight throat. "It is a privilege just to have been able to meet you."

Varyx stared at Wolfram as if he had grown a second head. "In truth you are a Kaziek? My elder? We are  _related_?" He questioned. "I do not understand…Julia's prophecy stated…"

" _It is a half-blood you will protect. It is a half-blood you will love…And it is a half-blood that will save us all. You have to bring him to us!"_

The violet-eyed man glanced around him as if seeing everyone for the first time. His gaze fell on Wolfram. A half-blood to protect? That made perfect sense, since Wolfram would be the only Kaziek alive in the future. His gaze fell on Ken. A half-blood to love? He hadn't truly allowed himself to think about it, but it was true…a part of him held a deep affection towards Ken Murata. His gaze finally fell on Yuri. A half-blood to save us all?

"Great-grandfather," Varyx called as he turned around.

Viceroy Zoah visibly winced at the title. "Forgive me. It will take a while for me to accustom to being called a  _grandfather_ , let alone a  _great_ -grandfather."

"We have no time to dwell on such things!" Varyx insisted. "I don't know as to what 'Destruction' Julia foretold of the Lugoz Wimlos of my time period. But, I do know that we  _need_ these three young men to aide us."

The Viceroy gave a solemn nod. "If this was foreseen by your Maiden Julia, then perhaps our own Maiden Ondine will be able to shed more light on this 'Destruction.'"

* * *

**~~~~Drow Neztirix: Present Day~~~~**

* * *

"Ulrike! Anissina!" King Razden growled as he stormed his way into the temple where the glass pyramid depicted the women to be. He was riled and frustrated in more ways than he ever wanted to admit. "Tell me what the Kings of the Past are plotting. Tell me right now!"

"My King, no one knows the true will of the Elders of the End." Ulrike tried to explain, but the demon king was not amused. She yelped as he tugged her head back harshly by tugging at her long, silvery hair. "My king!" She whimpered.

"King Razden, compose yourself!" Anissina hissed as she tugged the lady Ulrike away from his grasp. "We are your subjects, not your enemies."

"Is that so?" He scoffed sarcastically. "I already know that  _you_ were secretly tasked with protecting the Representative of Earth. Were you ever going to tell me  _that_? And, as of mere moments ago, Shinou  _himself_  told me that he wants me to step down for the brat." He made a hasty motion with one of his arms slicing through the air. "I will be damned if I allow the Kings of the Past to dictate my every move, my life is MINE!"

As the king stormed his way out of the temple, Anissina let out a long sigh. "Is it possible to both love and hate the ruler of your country at the same time?"

"The Kings of the Past have so many plans for him…I worry, Anissina." Lady Ulrike admitted. "I'm worried that he will end up doing something rash."


End file.
